The Voice Within

Intuition, instinct, inner voice, inner guide, gut feeling or inner knowing - many names for the same thing. Whatever you call it be silent and listen to it! Respect it and act on it! Intuition is our most reliable compass on our life journey. We all have access to our inner power if we just allow our selves to listen.

When I paint I let my intuition lead me through the painting process and I very seldom have a predefined plan for what my painting should look like. It all changes along the journey. When a painting is ready I can feel it physically in my body. It fills me with both energy and peace.

Creative work is a great way of practicing to follow your inner voice and I realize that I more and more let my intuition lead me through other parts of life as well.

When the opportunity arose to set up an exhibition at the Lightwave Gallery in Mount Maunganui, I new straight away what message I wanted to get across.

Listen to your inner voice! Let it lead you on your life journey!

I exhibited a selection of paintings that my intuition helped me create. I hope that by showing them and telling you a bit about what I learnt while painting them I can feed your curiosity to start listening to your inner voice!

The Inner Wizard

This painting was very easy to paint and it all just came bubbling up! The imagery has a lot of symbolic meaning for me. The butterflies symbolise transition and transformation, the feathers symbolises strength, and the snake, healing. The Inner Wizard is my muse. She represents my inner guide and is therefore the face of this exhibition.

The Voice Within

"Stop searching!

Start listening to the voice within that wants further expression in your life

Make the unconscious conscious!"

-Julia Cameron

This painting was hanging undone in my kitchen for some time. The eyes were watching me (and my family) until one day I added the above words and I felt peace and knew that the painting was finished.

Check Julia Camron blog. There are many wise words related to creativity there.

Lotus II and III

38x38cm, 15"x15" - SOLD

Lotuses appear over and over again in my paintings. For me they symbolize the expansion of the soul. The lotuses rise through the muddy waters of ponds and lakes. They bloom on the surface and the petals shine untainted by the mud. The lotus also symbolizes love, compassion and passion - all the qualities of the heart.

Within Us

The woman and her child appeared when spraying water on a "blob" of paint. The following words are hidden in the layers of paint

"What lies behind us

and what lies in front of us

are small compared to what lies within us"

– Emerson

As children we all have access to our inner voice but through life we stop listening. Why is that? I think that one of the most important gifts we can give our children is to listen to them and help them to trust their intuition and act on it.

Love

This painting represents love, kind of obvious... BUT it does not only represent the love between two people but the love to one self. To be able to let someone truly love me, I have to love my self. To love also mean to be compassionate. To me, it is a fundamental part of human love. I need to be more compassionate to myself. I need to go easy on my self, to accept and love who I truly am!

Dandelion

20x46cm, 8"x18"

Dandelions symbolize strength and love. Dandelions can grow through the paving in a path and then spread their fragile seeds by the wind. For me this represents how strong love is and how it spreads through the world.

Dandelions fascinate children in all ages. But when we grow up dandelions become less interesting and a pest more than fun. I will stop next time I pass by a dandelion and actually blow on it. I will be playful and follow the seeds. I do not want to be too busy to pause and take in all the million small beauties in life?

I Am

This painting has many layers of paint. The words "I Am" and "I Love" were added in the early layers and I kept them through the process. The olive branch symbolizes inner peace. The Flower of Life is considered to provide deep spiritual meaning and forms of enlightment to those who study it. Leonardo Da Vinci studied the Flower of Life geometry in detail

I Am All That I Am

One With The Universal Mind

One With The Source Of All Life

I Am One With All Living Things

And They Are One With Me

I Am Love

I Am Light

I Am Peace

I Am

-Author unknown

Be Brave

This woman appeared after many layers of paint. She morphed out of the background and it felt as if she was who she was. I felt brave when painting her, letting her be nude and bold. Am I brave enough to be who I truly am? Am I brave enough to love myself and to live life more based on intuition? I have to leave my comfort zone and go into the wilderness of intuition. What I will discover will be wonderful. What I'll discover will be myself.

Wild

I want to be wild and brave and be myself!

Namaste

Namaste is a customary greeting and a symbol of gratitude and respect in Hindu. This painting tells me to just stop and be silent, mindful, and listen even though I am in the middle of a hectic life and a cluttered world. I want to listen and I want to be grateful!

Below are some quotes, from a divers set of very successful women and men. An ancient greek philosopher, our most famous scientist, one of our most successful businessman, a Pop Star and a well known physician. With these quotes I want to show you that it is not just me, that believes in the power of our intuition, but that many of the people that we call "successfull people" are/were well aware of that their inspiration and decisions are/were based on intuition.

Intuition is the source of scientific knowledge.

- Aristotle

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

-Albert Einstein

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything else is secondary.

- Steve Jobs

When there's no one else, look inside yourself

Like your oldest friend, just trust the voice within

Then you'll find the strength that will guide your way

You'll learn to begin to trust the voice within

- Christina Aguilera

Being alive means winning the right to say anything we want,

to be who we are and to do what we want to do.

We need to listen to the voice within to find our inner guide.

Having found the inner guide, we have found ourselves.

This wisdom inside us is like a spark that once lit can never be extinguished!

- Deepak Chopra

I will end this page here and I do hope that this has sparked your curiousity for finding, listening and acting upon your own inner voice. I will continue to explore the wonderful world of our spirit and consciousness. So please stay tuned and follow my blog and/or my facebook page.